Memorie.al publishes some rare photos of the nationalist organization of Balli Kombëtar taken during the War period in 1943-1944, which for years were kept secret in the archive of the former Central Committee of the ALP and were not published never from the historiography of the communist regime and the propaganda of that time, in order for the activity and role of this nationalist organization to be completely hidden from the history and memory of the Albanians.
In these unknown photos with rare images have appeared some of the main exponents of the Youth of the National Front included in the battalion “Qeramudin Sulo and Besnik Çano” during the incursion they made in several cities of Kosovo, such as Prizren, Peja, Gjakova, etc. , where they went to fight against Chetnik forces in the summer of 1944, as well as at the funeral ceremony of Azis Çami, one of the leaders of Balli who was assassinated by the communist guerrillas in Tirana.
In some of these photos is the Balli Youth Battalion, “Besnik Çano and Qeramudin Sulo” entering the city of Peja and Gjakova, where a magnificent reception was given by thousands of residents who came out on both sides of the road with flowers in hands. At the head of the column of nationalist youth forces, appears Seid Kazazi (battalion commander) and behind him Arif Peza and Xhemal Alimehmeti, while among them with a flag in hand, is Ridvan Banka, all three from the city of Tirana and classmates with Ramiz Alina in the gymnasium of the capital until 1943 when they dropped out of school and went to the mountains to organize the anti-fascist resistance.
Seid Kazazi, a law graduate in Vienna, was assassinated by communist forces in the Postriba Uprising in 1946, where he sided with his brother, Jup Kazazi, the main leader of this anti-communist movement who killed himself to stay alive. in the hands of communist forces. Whereas Arif Peza, the commander of a Balli gang that was also the horror of the communists, in November 1944 left Albania together with the main exponents of Balli and Legality such as Mit’hat Frashëri, Hasan Dosti, Abaz Kupi, etc. , while one of his brothers, also Balli’s gang commander, was shot by communists, while the other, Qazim Peza, suffered for years in the political prisons of the communist regime.
Arif Peza after staying for some time in camps in Italy, then emigrated to the US and Canada, to return to Albania in 1993 and died in 2008. While Xhemal Alimehmeti, was arrested immediately in December 1944 and after suffering some time in political prisons, for many years worked in construction and passed away in 2005.
Along with them in these photos (in the open truck) are Rruzhdi Daca, Tom Leci, Lec Gjeçi and Pal Mirashi, main exponents of the Balli Youth of the city of Shkodra, who joined the battalion “Qeraudin Sulo and Besnik Çano” during the incursion that they did in Kosovo where they fought against the Chetnik forces of Draça Mihajlovi..
In another photo, is the funeral ceremony of Hamit Troplini, the Tirana boy who was killed during the fighting of the forces of this battalion near the river, Lim, and in the foreground (second without hats) is Ramazan Turdiu from Tirana, who in November 1944 left Albania with the main leaders of Balli and legality, initially settling in Italy where he completed his higher studies and graduated in Pharmacy with a doctorate and then emigrated to the US, where he studied “Pharmacy” at Columbia University and worked for five decades in pharmaceutical research for CIBA and Warner Lambert. Ramadan passed away in the US on November 25, 2012.
In another photo are members of the Nationalist Youth Battalion of the National Front in June 1944 in the city of Prizren, listening and applauding the welcome speech of Bedri Pejani, one of the main leaders of the Kosovo Nationalist Forces and chairman of the Third League of Prizren.
Another photo, which belongs to December 17, 1943, shows some other exponents of the Youth of the National Front, such as Ramazan Jarani, Luan Dosti, Ziçe Hatibi, Hamit Shehi, Luan Dosti, etc., on Kavaja Street carrying the coffin on their shoulders of Haziz Çami, one of the exponents of the National Front who was treacherously killed by the assassinations of the communist guerrillas in Tirana. Ironically, his assassin, a young communist, suffered for many years in the prisons of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, accused of being “the enemy of the people”. / Memorie.al
